Best Sound Design Studios in Sydney (2026)

Introduction

The 6 studios below design, compose and mix sound from Sydney in 2026. Two are music and sound houses that work mainly on advertising, two are film and television audio post facilities, one is a scoring stage with audio post rooms, and one is a sonic branding agency.

Sydney’s sound work falls into two clusters. Advertising sound houses sit in the inner city, close to the agencies in Surry Hills and Chippendale, and turn round commercials, cut-downs and radio in days. Long-form audio post gathers around Moore Park and the Disney Studios lot, where features and series are mixed in 7.1 and Dolby Atmos. The sonic branding side has also been moving: in March 2026 Ralph van Dijk (founder of Eardrum) and Ramesh Sathiah (formerly of Song Zu) left MassiveMusic to start Saliō Sonic Strategy, three years after MassiveMusic acquired their earlier venture, Resonance.

Studios were chosen for their services, recent credits and evidence of a working Sydney studio in 2026. Several well-known names could not be confirmed as operating a Sydney studio this year, so the list stops at 6 rather than padding it out. It is unranked, since the right choice depends on whether you need a commercial mix, a film mix, a score or a sonic identity.

The best sound design studios in Sydney

1. Rumble Studios

Founder-led · Chippendale · rumble.com.au

Rumble Studios is a music and sound design studio on Rose Street in Chippendale, founded by Tone Aston, with Michael Gie as executive producer and partner. It writes original music and designs sound for advertising, television, branded content and radio, using in-house composers and sound designers alongside a wider network. In 2024 B&T reported a year that included two Golds at AWARD, a D&AD Pencil, Shots Asia Audio Company of the Year and ADFEST Production Company of the Year, and the studio rebranded with a modular logo in August 2026.

Recent work includes a 25-piece orchestral score for a global Breville coffee campaign, Wieden+Kennedy Sydney’s Woolmark sheep-farm billboard, a Movember campaign with Rick and Morty and Aaron Chen, and Telstra’s “Blocking Villains” work with Steve Buscemi for Bear Meets Eagle On Fire. Other clients include Bankwest, Optus, Uber Eats and Nissan.

2. Sonar Music

Founder-led · Moore Park · sonarmusic.com.au

Sonar Music composes music and designs sound for film, television, documentary, advertising and sonic branding from a studio on the Disney Studios lot in Moore Park. Composer Jono Ma is named as its founder, and its composers include Antony Partos and Matteo Zingales, both nominated at the 2026 Screen Music Awards. Zingales scored the Amazon Prime series Kill Jackie, starring Catherine Zeta-Jones.

Screen credits include RUN, Upright, Bump, Animal Kingdom and The Hunter. On the brand side, Sonar has worked on Suntory, MLC’s “The Heist” and IG Markets in 2026, built a sonic brand for Adelaide University with Fuller, and made a synthesiser from e-waste with Telstra and The Avalanches. It suits projects that want composition and sound design from the same team.

3. Big Bang Sound Design

Film and TV sound studio · Sydney · bigbangsound.com.au

Big Bang Sound Design is a sound post studio for features and television, a few minutes from Disney Studios and Sydney Airport. It runs three mixing theatres set up for 7.1, Dolby Atmos and AR/VR 360, two Pro Tools mixing studios for TV and feature work, sixteen sound editing suites, Foley and sound design recording, and ADR over Source-Connect. It describes its sound effects library as the largest networked library in Australia.

In 2025 Screen NSW and Sydney UNESCO City of Film gave the studio the Sydney UNESCO City of Film Award, accepted by Wayne Pashley and Libby Villa. Its site quotes reviews of the sound on Elvis and Legend of the Guardians: The Owls of Ga’Hoole and features Finding the Voice, the John Farnham documentary. It suits features and series that need sound supervision, editing and the final mix under one roof.

4. Soundfirm

Picture, sound and VFX facility · Sydney · soundfirm.com

Soundfirm has worked in Australian post for close to 40 years and runs facilities in Sydney, Melbourne and Beijing. Its sound department covers mixing, sound design, ADR, English dubbing, sound editing suite rental and sound deliverables, and it can package sound with picture finishing and VFX or supply each service on its own. Its site credits the company with the 2017 Academy Award for sound mixing on Hacksaw Ridge.

Recent credits include sound on The Newsreader season 3, The Narrow Road to the Deep North, Strife season 2 and The Family Next Door, and picture, sound and VFX on Memoir of a Snail, nominated for Best Animated Feature at the 2025 Academy Awards. The site does not say which credits were mixed in Sydney, so ask which rooms and team your project would use.

5. Trackdown

Scoring stage and audio post · Moore Park · trackdown.com.au

Trackdown is a scoring stage and audio post studio in Building 125 at the Entertainment Quarter in Moore Park, next to Disney Studios. The business started about 50 years ago as a rehearsal and demo studio on Oxford Street and now houses the Simon Leadley Scoring Stage, a 5.1 mixing room, a theatre and production suites for hire. Services include film scoring sessions, ADR, Foley, Source-Connect recording and audio and music post.

Trackdown won Australian Screen Sound Guild awards for Best Music Production and Best Sound on a Feature Film for Better Man. It is the natural Sydney room for recording an orchestral score, and its suites are also available on a dry-hire basis.

6. Smith & Western

Founder-led · Surry Hills · smithandwestern.com

Smith & Western is a sonic branding agency founded in Sydney in 2010 by Nick West and Dan Higson. It creates sonic identities, sonic logos, brand music, sound design and voiceover for TV commercials, podcasts and app sounds, and runs a studio alongside a brand strategy process it calls SonicBoom. Its team includes a sonic branding strategist and a research partner as well as composers.

Work on its site includes a new sonic identity system for Vodafone, nib’s “Curiously Charming” brand sound and a sonic logo for Australia’s national brand with Austrade. Other clients include Medibank, Binge, Kayo, McDonald’s, TPG and Suncorp Bank. It suits brands that want a sound identity and the rules for using it across channels.

What to look for in a Sydney sound design studio

Start with the kind of job. A commercial needs fast turnaround, a stack of cut-downs and mixes to broadcast loudness for free-to-air, BVOD and cinema. A feature or series needs a mixing theatre calibrated for the delivery format, an editing team for dialogue, effects and Foley, and a record of passing a streamer’s technical QC. A sonic identity needs research and composition more than mixing.

Check who will do the work. Sydney’s sound houses are small, and the sound designer on the reel may now be at another studio. Ask who will design and mix your job, and whether the studio composes in-house or commissions composers from a wider network.

Ask about music rights early. Original scores, licensed tracks and re-records each come with different costs and usage terms, and broadcast and online rights for Australia and overseas markets are priced separately. Studios that offer music supervision can clear tracks, but the terms need to match the media plan.

Finally, agree how sessions and stems will be handed over. A finished job produces Pro Tools sessions, stems, M&E tracks, music cue sheets and versions for each cut-down or territory. Settle file naming, where the deliverables live and who keeps the sessions after delivery.

How Fabric helps sound design teams

Fabric gives an audio team one workspace for sessions, stems, scripts and client feedback, with AI search across all of it. The page for music creators covers how audio teams keep sessions and references together.

Sessions and stems sit in Fabric’s cloud drive, which streams files on demand so they take no local disk space, and shared team folders always show the latest versions. There is more on this in why audio sessions end up scattered and in the guide to organising audio project files.

Uploaded recordings are transcribed, and search results jump to the timestamp where something was said, which helps when a producer needs a particular voiceover take or a line from a recording session. Scripts and cue sheets sit next to the audio they belong to.

For approvals, mixes and versions can be published as a web page with password protection, and clients can leave threaded comments through a shared link without an account. Reviewers can comment on scripts and PDFs, and leave timestamped comments on audio and video.

Password protection is included on Pro and Team plans. See plans for teams.

Frequently asked questions

What is the best sound design studio in Sydney?

It depends on the job. Rumble Studios has a long run of recent advertising credits, Sonar Music combines screen composition with sound design, Big Bang Sound Design and Soundfirm handle film and series sound post, and Smith & Western focuses on sonic branding.

Where can I mix a film in Dolby Atmos in Sydney?

Big Bang Sound Design runs three mixing theatres set up for 7.1, Dolby Atmos and AR/VR 360, and Soundfirm offers sound mixing as part of its Sydney facility. For picture finishing and full-service houses, see the best post-production companies in Sydney.

Where can I record an orchestral score in Sydney?

Trackdown runs the Simon Leadley Scoring Stage at the Entertainment Quarter in Moore Park and records film scores, ADR and Foley. Rumble Studios recorded a 25-piece orchestra for a Breville campaign in 2026.

What is sonic branding?

Sonic branding is the design of a brand’s sound identity, such as a sonic logo, a music theme and product or app sounds, and the rules for using them across channels. Smith & Western works on this from Surry Hills, and Sonar Music has built sonic brands alongside its screen work.

Do Sydney sound studios also compose music?

Most advertising sound houses do. Rumble Studios and Sonar Music both write original music as well as designing and mixing sound, while film sound studios such as Big Bang Sound Design usually work with a separate composer.

Related lists

Sound design studios in other cities: New York · London · Los Angeles · Chicago · Singapore

More in Sydney: Creative agencies · Post-production · Video production · Animation · Advertising agencies · VFX

Run your studio on Fabric: Fabric for music creators · Best cloud storage for music production · Fabric for video editors